The Sorceress and her Knight
by Gamerteen13
Summary: Not about Edea and Seifer.  Your typical Self Insert, I get sent to the fields somewhere in Trabia, and get trained alongside Selphie! Squall x Rinoa, maybe Me x Selphie later... Maybe. Rated for language. NO LEMONS!
1. Chapter Zero, the Prologue

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**Pay attention, this is the one, and only time I will tell you this.**_

_**I do not own Final Fantasy 8, I am not the owner of any video game, manga, anime, comic book, or television company, SO LEAVE ME ALONE, LAWYERS!**_

* * *

><p>I sigh as I look around wearily, I was sitting on a huge-ass chain-thing, and everyone was getting ready for battle.<p>

'_Listen to my story…' _Selphie sat down next to me, and wrapped her arm around my shoulder in a calming gesture, _'This…May be our last chance.'_

* * *

><p>The sounds of waves crashing… seagulls flying overhead… people working on a boat.<p>

It's all the same here.

I chuckle, and I recall the day I got here.

_======Flashback======_

I winced as I got up, I looked around, I was in some sort of field.

'_Where… am I?'_

I looked myself over, no scratches, and, thankfully, I was in a sweatshirt and jeans, and I felt… shorter, somehow.

I also noticed one other thing.

"HOLYSHITITISCOLD!"

I wandered for a while, and came upon a beach.

…And land sharks.

"SHIIIIIIIITTTTT!"After some distance sprinting(And subsequent collapsing), I came upon a forest.

…And some dinosaurs.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!"

Then, after some more distance sprinting, I came upon a wall.

And ran into it.

"Owwww…"

Then, I felt something in my neck, "Ow.", I pulled it out, and noticed it was a dart.

"Huh, weird, what's a dart doin- Oohh… pretty colors…"*Thud!*

* * *

><p>In the Trabia Garden Infirmary, Dr. Diane Rae looked at her new patient in confusion.<p>

"Let's try this again. **Scan!**"

The same readout came up.

**Name: Nathan**

**Age: 12**

**Height: 5'7**

**Gender: Male**

**Weapon: None**

**Description:Confused and in a daze, he only wants to know where he is.**

Diane Rae pondered the readout long and hard.

The Description section, more often than not, gives a summarized version of the targets life story, with an addenda on their weapon of choice.

Either this kid REALLY wants to know where he is… or he's an amnesiac.

Either way, he seemed fit enough… maybe he could join their SeeD program?

_======End Flashback======_

And so, I did.

But, unfortunately, I had to have a last name in order to finish signing the papers.

The only decent sounding one I could think of(that wasn't my own) was, sadly, Uzumaki.

And so, I became Nathan Uzumaki.

I was introduced, in class, everyone's kind… except, of course, the resident "Queen".

Everyone's met a "Queen", selfish, manipulative, has tons people under her thumb, and the school can't do jack squat about it because she's still following the rules.

I tried keeping my distance, and succeeded.

Of course, that didn't keep her from teasing me.

Luckily, that all stopped the moment I kicked her ass in Triple Triad, the game everyone loves.

Apparently, the social ladder there revolved around it, and I beat the person at the top.

Thereby making me the awesomest kid on site…apparently.

Now, here's the aggravating part about Triple Triad.

The card company CEO know that GFs can refine cards into items, and as such, SeeDs and SeeD Trainees aren't allowed to purchase cards.

At the same time, SeeD Trainees are assigned one Gamblers Spirit upon gaining their first GF.

So, in other words, I would have to go outside and risk my ass for a card game.

After a year, I was able to get my weapons.

In truth, I am an Opportunist, I try making myself skilled in most weapons(At the very least, "Doesn't utterly suck" level), but my specialty is with the Hookblades.

Long reach, and has the ability to disarm your foe.

Made a lot more sense to me than a sword.

After all, why stab your foe, when you could steal his sword and stab him with _that_?

But I'm not at that point yet, back to then.

It was in Junction class, I met my first friend, Selphie Tilmitt.

My initial reaction was _'Dawww… She's adorable!'_

After she handed my ass back to me in sparring practice, I agreed with most kids on one simple fact, _**Do not piss off the Cerebramancer!**_.

To clarify, a Cerebramancer is a person who can take the magic flowing around us, and refine it into usable magic. In some cases, though, it comes out imperfect, and she would have to immediately discharge it.

But still, she does an excellent job of creating magic.

And then came the day we were supposed to go out and get my GF.

Hoo boy.

I remember that heart attack of a day like it were yesterday.

=========Flashback==========

"C'mon Nathan! Hurry up!" a floating Selphie called out from her place past me.

Unfortunately, _I_ don't have Float on me, and Selphie keeps forgetting that fact.

"I'm sorry, do _you_ want to climb?" I said, getting over a large snow-capped boulder.

In a T-shirt.

Without gloves.

Yeah, Trabia students go through cold resistance training.

Theoretically speaking, we could swim through the ocean to the Shumi Village naked if we wanted to.

…Not that we would, colds are still colds in Trabia, and it would be embarrassing as hell.

The 100 Blizzagas they give us to junction to our Junction Bracers probably help a bunch too.

What are Junction Bracers?

They are created by Doctor Odine, they enable even civilians to junction magic, but you can only have two at a time, they only work half as good as a GF Junction, and you can't use your junctioned magic, and are given to SeeD Trainees if they have to leave Garden before getting a GF.

_**(A/N: Hey, he had to base the Junction: Ellone machine off of SOMETHING, didn't he?)**_

Selphie, however, was lucky, and managed to find a GF in a Tonberry that somehow found it's way all the way up here, she didn't need them.

She made her way ahead, beyond my vision.

I grumbled and as I climbed over a boulder, I heard her scream.

"Selphie!" I hurried over the boulder, and jumped from boulder to boulder, fear of falling gone for the moment, and I quickly caught up.

My heart about stopped.

She was stuck with her back to the cliff, a full-grown Ruby Dragon prowling towards her.

It raised it's paw, as I looked on in horror.

"No…"

It swept it's paw, hitting Selphie, causing her to go flying, and hit a boulder.

She didn't get up.

"No… No… Nonononono…"

The Ruby Dragon took in a deep breath, readying a flame attack, and I screamed out, **"NO!"**

The world faded to shades of black and white.

I was dimly aware of something dribbling down my cheeks, but I didn't care.

I jumped, and landed in front of Selphie, the Ruby Dragon saw some more prey, and fired a fire ball at me.

I deflected it with my arm, suffering no damage, and in a borderline demonic voice, snarled out _**"**__**Dragon Render."**_

I kicked it into the air as my hookblades fused together, spinning them rapidly, I leaped, and passed through the Ruby Dragon.

I landed, and saw that the thing was split in half.

A single slash later, and its head laid in my backpack, sticking out ridiculously.

Then, I looked over to Selphie, there was a puddle of red liquid forming around her.

I'm not quite sure what happened after that, but I recall picking her up, and then being inside Trabia Garden, carrying her bridal style.

People gave us wide berth, except for one guy, he tried attacking me, and was violently thrown against a wall.

(Later, people told me that my clothes and skin were pure white, my arms were coated in blood, and I had some on my clothes, also, my eyes were bleeding, the sclera and the iris both were blood red, which, in certain lights, looked pitch black.)

I burst into the Infirmary, and got the attention of Dr. Rae.

After she began casting Curaga on Selphie, I blacked out.

* * *

><p>As I regained consciousness, I idly noted one thing.<p>

'_Ow. Ow ow. Owowowowowsore!'_

Pain.

I opened my eyes, and saw Selphie asleep in a chair, bandages wrapped around her stomach.

'_Ow. Dawww… Ow.'_

Dr. Rae comes in, and I look at her curiously, and bob my head towards the sleeping Selphie.

She whispers, "She heard you risked your life to save her, and wanted to be there when you got up. You worried us all, dear." I winced, and pulled out my arm, making a 'come here' gesture.

Dr. Rae came over, and I whispered, "What was…How bad… How bad was she hurt?" I asked, Dr. Rae replied, "She hit a jagged part of that boulder, it cut up her back pretty bad." I felt guilty, it was my fault, in a way.

If I had been there, or even acted instead of gawking like an idiot, she wouldn't 've been hurt at all.

"It's thanks to you she survived." I looked at her in confusion.

"According to eye-witnesses, you suddenly appeared in the school Quad, and made a beeline for the Infirmary. Apparently, this is why you're so wounded right now, too.""…What?"

She sighed, and said, "You managed the improbable, and used a Limit Break without a Guardian Force equipped."

Voice raspy, I asked, "How… does that… hurt me?"

"Guardian Forces grant immense strength boosts, among other things, it enables one to stand and fight through the recoil that a Limit Break brings. I'm not sure if that was you handling it, you panicking about Miss Tilmitt, or if it was just the effects of your Limit Break, but you appeared to be hysterical."

That last word echoed in my head.

"Hys…teria."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Limit Break is… Hysteria."

I breathed a laugh, and said, "Heh… Fits… I worry… panic… too much."

I looked to Dr. Rae, and said "…Water?…Please?"

Ten minutes later, I was good enough to get out of bed.

Naturally, that was when Selphie woke up, and glomped me hard enough to throw me back on the bed.

She hugged me for a bit, and I hugged back.

'_Please, don't scare me like that again.' _ran through my mind.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, it ran through her mind, too.

=========End Flashback=========

Yeah, she and I watch out for each other.

I looked into my backpack, where a full set of Inferno Fangs were, it took Trabia a few years to extract them all safely, there were about fifty of the things, I was supposed to give one to Balamb's Blue Mage as a sign of good faith.

Back to the recap. we got our first nicknames for each other a week after that incident.

===Flashback===

Selphie and I were walking to class, when we passed by a trio of girls.

One sighed, "Look at them. Don't they look adorable together?", hearing that comment I blushed slightly.

Another said, "Yeah, they do. Hey, do you think the rumors are true? That he saved her from a full-grown Ruby Dragon?"The third one chuckled, and said, "Yeah! Then he would be like her knight or something!"

The second one laughed, and said, "Then that would make her his princess!"I chuckled slightly as we continued on.

In class, I pulled out a chair for Selphie, and said with a look of humor on my face, "After you, Princess." .

In turn, she said, "Why thank you, sir Knight." we stared at each other for five seconds before we couldn't hold it back anymore, and starting laughing.

===End Flashback===

Yeah, things were good until the following week, when I had to get my GF.

===Flashback===

We, once again, were climbing the mountain range, where Ramuh, the Spirit of Lightning was rumored to be.

THIS time, we stuck close to each other.

After a while, we made it to a relatively flat area, and there we found a cabin, with a fire going in it, if the smoke coming out of the chimney is any indication.

I knocked on the door, and an elderly man came out.

"Yes? May I help you?"

"Yes, we- uhh… We're looking for the…The Guardian Force known as Ramuh, would you happen to know where it is?"

The old man looked inquisitive for a moment, before recognition sparked in his eyes.

"Ah! Yes! Ramuh can typically be found across the gorge around this time, if you hurry, you can still make it!"

My head darted from left to right, looking for the gorge, when Selphie said, "Would it be possible for you to lead us to the gorge?"

The old man nodded, and said, "Gladly."

-Minutes later-

Walking along a narrow part of the cliff face, the old man said "Watch your step!"

Naturally, I looked down, and almost fell.

-Minutes later-

Tiptoeing past a marked Ruby Dragon den, the old man said, "Ssshhh… Be quiet."

Stubbed my foot on a rock, hurt like HELL!

-Minutes later-

There was a rickety bridge and a gorge just around the boulder, the old man had said.

But the old man also said that if he didn't get back to his stew, it would scorch, and left.

They turned around the boulder, and, indeed, saw a tall being, lightning sparking from his body every now and then, looking out towards the sea.

And the bridge looked so rickety, it was just plain ridiculous.

Naturally, I was the first one to start running across, Selphie came after me, I was almost across when I heard a cracking noise, and Selphie scream.

That one noise causes my stomach to drop.

I spun around, and only saw a pair of hands clinging onto a board.

'_Shit!'_ I jerked around, Ramuh was getting up to leave, _'Double shit!'_

In my mind, the pros and cons were weighed, and a decision was made.

'_Fuck Ramuh.'_

I turned, and ran towards the panicking Selphie, helping her up.

We walked briskly towards the way we came, when we heard a cracking noise.

We turned around, "SHIT! RUN!" on the other end of the rickety-ass bridge was a Golem.

Golems are huge-ass things that weigh more than three cars put together.

Basically, it can make a frisbee out of anything less than an tank by merely sitting on it… if it were smart enough to think of that.

They aren't exactly the smartest creatures in existence.

And it was trying to make it's way across the bridge.

Which is why we were running towards the safety of the mountain.

*CRACK!* *SNAP!*

I jerked my head back, the bridge was falling!

We were close to the mountain, but the bridge fell.

Selphie managed to grab the cliff edge, and I grabbed her hand.

We were stuck.

I looked behind us, and the Golem had fallen hundreds of feet onto the ground below, shattering into oblivion.

I looked up to Selphie, she was struggling to keep herself and me held up at the same time.

I couldn't let her die… I just couldn't…

I took a shuddering breath, and said, "Hey, Selphie." she continued in her struggle, but opened an eye, and strangled out, "What?" I smiled, a tear flowing down my face, "Stay strong for me." And with that, I let go.

Selphie quickly became aware of what just happened, and called out, "NATHAN!"

As I free-fell, A question popped into my head, _Was it worth it?_

A melancholy smile appeared on my face, _'Yeah, it's worth it.'_

The ground hit faster than I expected.

*Thud!*

_**(A/N: Would've been a hell of a place to leave things hanging for now, but my plan was for the first chapter to be up until Balamb.)**_

* * *

><p>I groaned as vision returned to me.<p>

Either I was in limbo, or Hell involved large amounts of back pain, because Heaven's supposed to be lacking pain.

And I should have WINGS! Where the hell are my wings?

I blinked my eyes open, there was someone crying, and the place resembled a cabin.

I got up slowly, wincing every inch I moved, _'Good God Almighty! Do all people who die this way get a effed up back?'_

Then, arms wrapped around me, the sobbing grew muffled as my shoulder felt damp.

I turned my neck, wincing some more, and saw a familiar head of brown hair.

"…Selphie?"

A hand reached up, and smacked me in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" She got up, tears streaking down her sad face.

"Y-you idiot! Y-y-you c-cou-could've d-die-died!" She then hugged me tightly, as if worrying I was going to vanish, "D-don't you e-ever scare me li-like tha-that again!" I returned the hug, tears leaving streaks down my face too, barely noticing the pain in my back and neck fading away.

Just beyond Selphie's head, I saw the old man, who in a flash of light, grew to be ten feet tall, , beard nearly reaching down to his feet, wearing a spiky necklace and a white robe with a scepter in his right hand, he nodded to me, and I felt a presence in my mind.

I held Selphie close, inwardly, I was raging.

'_A TEST! A fucking TEST! That JACKASS! He risked Selphie's life, and then mine, ALL FOR A DAMN TEST!'_

I kept apologizing for weeks, she was still upset with me at that point, but still, we were friends again.

By the end of the month, we got back to calling each other "Princess Selphie" and "Sir Knight".

By the end of the year, I was starting to forgive Ramuh.

===End Flashback===

"_By the way, you STILL haven't said sorry about that, jackass."_

"_**Hey, it was a test to see if you were self-sacrificing enough to have earned me. If you hadn't done that, and let your girlfriend die, I would've smote you into oblivion! We've been over this!"**_

"_You. Do. Not. Risk. Selphie's. Life. PERIOD! END OF DISCUSSION!… AND SHE IS _NOT_ MY GIRLFRIEND!"_

"_**Deeeeniiiiiiaaaalllll!"**_

Anyway, still haven't successfully forgiven the jackass.

It would help if he wasn't a JACKASS, and would say SORRY!

…Anyway, it was two years after that, we finally made SeeD Cadet ranking… Right after the only SeeD exam of the year.

But it was in the last year that our new nickname rose up.

**===========Flashback=========**

We were paying attention in class, as opposed to certain people in the back row.

"-it was shortly after the defeat of the Sorceress Adel that Esthar sponsored our Cerebramancy program, which is where we attempt to teach the ability of refining ambient magic in the surroundings into magic, either to junction, or to cast. Miss Tilmitt here-" he gestured to Selphie, who blushed slightly at everyone staring at her, "- is, so far, the best result the program has produced, being able to consistently create magic out of thin air, with a failure ratio of one out of fifty-six point three attempts." she got applauded, causing her to blush brighter.

After class ended, we gathered up our supplies, and I pulled out her chair, and asked, "So, they got the idea for Cerebramancy from studying the Sorceresses?" Selphie nodded, "So that means that you're the closest thing we have to a Sorceress?" blushing, Selphie nodded again, I chuckled, and she dropped a book, "Let me get that for you, _Sorceress_ Selphie." she rolled her eyes, stepped away from the book, and said, "Alright, _my Knight._" And just like a similar incident three years ago, we both held it in for about five seconds before bursting out laughing.

**======End Flashback======**

And that's how everyone got to calling us The Sorceress and her Knight.

…Would you believe that I still had all 100 of the issued Blizzagas?

Yeah, well, they seemed useful, so I kept them saved up.

…And I never did find out how they unfused my hookblades...

My head bashed against the wall, eliciting an "OW!" as the ship hit a wave.

"Balamb Docks are in sight!" well, that was my cue to wake up Selphie.

"Oy, Sorceress Selphie, wake up. Waaaaakkkkkeeeee uuuuuppppp…" She was out of it.

'_Hmm… lets see… how can I do this? I don't want to smack her upside the head, THAT never turns out well for me. I do NOT want to turn into a fish again! It took them weeks. WEEKS, to get me turned back…Ugh. I'm gonna have to joy buzzer her again.'_

I applied what Thunders I had to Strike Element, and held up two fingers, causing a small bolt of lightning to arc between them.

With that, I gently poked her arm…

*Zzzzzzt!* *Chik!* *KerWHAP!*

I was on the ground, clutching my face, as Selphie held her arm, nunchaku laying by her side on the bed.

"Gaaaaaggghhh… Remind me to not do that again."

She giggled a little, and said, "Better than the time you stood _over _me and tried that."

I winced, that girl could _kick!_

She rolled her eyes and cast a simple Cure spell, saying "Get up, Knight, or do I have to kick you to see if-" I was on my feet in an instant.

I parted my hands, and said, "Any bruises?".

Her response? Cure on Strike Element, and her hand on my face.

I noted that my skin felt less painful by the time she took her hand away.

Then, I toppled over, and she fell on top of me as the ship docked, causing us both to blush, shock keeping us still.

A sailor came in, and said, "We are at p-" he looked at us, and a knowing smirk grew on his face, "…I'll leave you two to it.", the door shut, and we both blushed brightly.

We both decided to keep each other at arms length for now.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Authors Notes:<strong>_

**Woot! Done with Chapter Zero!**

**Alright, explanation time.**

**The various little new details are me running over plot holes with an asphalt truck.**

**If you want to know the reason why the Card Making Company doesn't want SeeDs to buy cards?**

**Hehehe, guess. Who doesn't want anything to do with SeeD?**

**If you still don't get it, it'll be revealed in due time.**

**No pairings so far, and if I write this right, there might not be(Except for SquallxRinoa, that's Canon), although, there miiiiight be some MexSelphie later, if I feel like it.**

**The relation Selphie and I have are either "Best Friends" or "Big Bro-Little Sis".**

**Also, the way SI thinks is how I think in real life, I seldom curse, but it's all out in my head.**

**I will be playing Triple Triad ad nauseum, why? Because it's fun, Random doesn't exist, and I get cool doodads for it.**

**I will also be bringing up a few tricks I found a while back.**

**If any of you have played Alice: Madness Returns, you know about Hysteria, if you don't, here's an explanation on my version.**

**In Hysteria, my skin hardens to where it can deflect most things(key word, MOST), and strengthens me enough to punch through a boulder, it effects me sort of like Rinoa's Angel Wings limit break, as in it lasts until the danger's passed, or for a certain amount of time(ten, fifteen minutes, tops), time slows down for me, my eyes begin bleeding from the strain, causing them to go blood-red, to me, the world fades into shades of black and white, but blood shows up vividly, my clothes turn white, as in snow white, causing shadows to be blatantly visible.**

**The thing is, the world changing bit, that's from my perspective, the clothes changing bit, and the bit where my eyes start bleeding? Everyone sees that.**

**You might be wondering, "How did he get there?", That, my dear readers, will be explained in due time.**

**I will also remember most of my time on Earth.**

**In my opinion, Scan works by getting the information the user wants, with Squall, it would be battle information, with a doctor, it would be medical information, for Irvine, it might include women's measurements somewhere in there, for me? In a panic about Selphie?**

**"Selphie? No."**

**The Junction Bracers are what I assume Odine made prior to the Junction: Ellone machine, since, after all, junctioning a magic is one thing, junctioning a PERSON is another thing entirely.**

**Also, the GF Junction abilities have gotten a name change(They aren't gonna go around calling it Ess-Tee-Are-Jay, for crying out loud).**

**Str-J to Strength**

**Mag-J to Clarity**

**Spd-J to Speed**

**Vit-J to Defense**

**Eva-J to Dodge**

**Hit-J to Accuracy**

**Spr-J to Will**

**HP-J to Endurance**

**Elem-Atk-J to Strike Element**

**Elem-Def-J to Elemental Defense**

**Stat-Atk-J to Strike Ailment**

**Stat-Def-J to Ailment Resistance**

**And if you want an example of the hookblades, think Jet's off of Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**And that's all for now, folks, see you next time!**

**Read and Review, please!**

**[Edit(November 24th, 2011): Reread the Altimate Rewrite and found out it was Cerebramancy/mancer, not Cebremancy/mancer. Whoops!... Happy Thanksgiving!]  
><strong>


	2. Chapter One, the Arrival

_**Author's note:**_

_**Okay, most of the shocking-to-me parts are over, the cursing should die down now… more or less.**_

* * *

><p>Still embarrassed by the sailor's comment, we explored Balamb.<p>

Balamb was a decently sized town, not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but still, pretty big.

We wandered, Selphie idly noting the lack of a Pet Shop, which was strange, what with the presence of cats and dogs.

We walked towards the train station(at Selphie's request),and saw that the Item Shop sold cat and dog food, alongside the items.

We entered the Train Station, and while she swooned over the train("Train, Train, take us away…"), I read a conveniently placed Timber Maniacs article, it talked about the writer Laguna Loire… Damn, that thing is OLD!

-Several minutes, and repeats of "Train, Train, Take us away" later…-

A happier Selphie left the train station, alongside a somewhat bored me.

As we walked towards the Junk Shop we passed earlier, I idly wondered, _'Did I remember to send that "Change of Address" notice to the folks at TM?'_

We entered the Junk Shop, and had repairs done on our weapons, in the time in between, I thought about something, _'If I recall right… we go to Dollet for the mission, and after that, if we pass, we go to Timber for our first mission… what happened there, again?… I remember something about trains… GRR!'_

Afterwards, we got a bite to eat, and got a ride to Balamb Garden.

===Ten minutes later===

"…Wow." was all that was said between the two of us.

We were making O.O faces.

Balamb Garden was effing HUGE!

It's at least TWICE as big as Trabia!

Oooooohhhhh boooy, we're gonna get lost in this place.

We walked…

And walked…

And walked…

And after what felt like a half an hour, FINALLY made it to an inside area, the turnstiles.

We walked through them, and went up the stairs, elevator in plain sight.

We looked up, and our eyes widened again.

We were stunned speechless at the sheer height of the place.

The only thing I could say was, "Thank God we don't need to go up _stairs_!" Selphie nodded, and we continued to the elevator.

The doors opened and shut as we approached and entered, Selphie pushed the "Floor 3" button as I stared in shock, Selphie did too, after a minute.

"…This place is like, a mile tall…" I started, "…And it only has three floors." Selphie finished.

"…What the HELL do they have in the areas in between?" I wondered out loud.

After a couple minutes of going straight up, the elevator dinged, and we got out of the elevator.

We walked up to the lady at the desk, and said, "Hello, how may I help you today?"I let Selphie walk up and say, "We're the new transfer students from Trabia, we were told to report to Headmaster Cid when we got here.", I let her do the talking.

Why? I'm either shy, or overly outgoing, depending on how familiar I am with you.

One way, I dance around things like a freaking ballerina, worried about making a bad impression, the other way, I'm blunter than a rock on a stick, seeing as how I don't need to anymore.

Selphie on the other hand, is outgoing and more outgoing, staying polite in big situations, and being outright chipper all the time.

I handed the secretary the papers, she checked them with the computer, and said, "Identity verified, go right on in."

I walked in with Selphie, and was stricken in awe.

'_Holy shit… This office is AWESOME!'_

And it is true, it is(now) my dream office, should I ever settle down.

===An hour later===

Headmaster Cid's pretty nice, after(seemingly) not hearing our questions as to what's in between the three floors of this five hundred plus feet tall establishment, we finished the paperwork, and said the exam would be in a couple weeks.

He handed us keys to our dormitories, and let us leave.

* * *

><p><strong>========Author's interruption========<strong>

**SORRY!**

**Completely forgot to include a description of me!(Well, the me that's been here five years, anyway.)**

**Height: 5'11**

**Age: 17**

**Hair color: Brown, looks black when wet for some reason.**

**Eye color: Strange shade of blue that looks dark green in certain lights.**

**Clothes:**

**Upper body ~ Light jacket(dark green in color), white/red/blue t-shirt.**

**Lower body ~ Denim jeans, standard white socks, black sneakers.**

**Accessories ~ Dimensionally expanded Chocobo-style wallet connected to pants by a chain(Only quasi-logical explanation as to why they can hold 99,999,999 gil), backpack, glasses with transition lenses.**

…**Might as well include a stat screen here while I'm at it.**

**(Note: All GFs have every Junction ability, but certain ones aren't as good as others, like, for example, Quetzocoatl can junction to Speed, but it won't be as effective as if Cactuar did it, etc.)**

**Leader: Nathan "Uzumaki"(Level 14)**

**GF: Ramuh(Level 26)(Compatibility: 100)**

**-27x Thunder to Strike Element**

**-100x Blizzaga to Element Defense**

**2****nd**** Member: Selphie Tilmitt(Level 16)**

**GF: Tonberry(Level 47)(Compatibility: 896)**

**-29x Blizzaga to Clarity**

**-19x Haste to Speed**

**-2x Slow to Strike Ailment**

* * *

><p>We were walking to the Quad, Selphie saw something on a bulletin board that got her interest, I followed for two reasons, one, I wanted to know what it was and see if I could help out at all, and… Heh heh heh… she had the map.<p>

It was easy to get lost in this place, contrary to what you might suspect.

Yeah, the main areas(Library, Quad, Infirmary, Library, etc.) were easily found, but the less important areas(Gym, Pool, Club rooms, etc) weren't.

Balamb Garden's pretty freaking big.

We quickly located the Quad(It had a large sign above it, reminded me of a highway, "HWY 460, QUAD EXIT, This lane only"), and walked in.

After walking down three sets of stairs and a pair of people rollerskat-…Ow, make that two people heading to the infirmary, we made it to the main stage-area.

We found what appeared to be a half-finished stage…I think, and a guy looking at it sadly.

Selphie ran up to the guy, and said "Hey, is this where the Garden Festival committee meets up?", the guy sighed, and said, "Normally… it is, but… besides me… everyone's been dispatched to conflicts around the world." he slumped forward in depression, "But… without anyone to help, progress has been reduced to a crawl. At this rate… The Garden Festival might be… canceled." he sighed, extremely depressed.

IN COMES THE QUEEN OF SUNSHINE-HAPPINESS!

"We'll help!" Selphie said cheerfully, the guy perked up slightly, I mentally sighed, _'She volunteered me again… Why do I let her do that, again?'_

"'_**Cause you love her."**_

_"DO NOT! Duh-imean… I 'love' her as a friend, NOT A GIRLFRIEND!"_

_**"Yeeeeeaaaaaah Riiight."**_

"_Blah, blah, blah."_

"…_**Wha-" **__"Blah, blah." __**"Serio-"**__ "Blah, Blah!" __**"Immatur-" **__"BLAH!" __**"…Brat." **__"Jackass."_

_**=Selphie PoV=**_

"-nd we'll hand out fliers and everything!"

The guy in charge of the Garden Festival had a gracious smile on his face, I turned to Nathan and said, "Isn't that right, Nathan?" After a few seconds of no response, waved a hand in front of his face, and asked, "Nathan?"…Still no response.

I sigh, "They're arguing again." I state in a matter-of-fact tone, catching the Garden Festival guy's curiosity, "Uhh… Who's he arguing with?" I turned to him, "…His GF, of course…" at his incredulous stare, I asked, "What, can't you guys talk to your GFs*****?" the man shook his head, "Oh."

We both stared at Nathan for a second, before the man said, "Geez, what're they arguing about?" I sigh, "Me, probably." The man looked at me, "…Huh?" "Well, it all ties back to how he got him in the first place, it was a secret test of self-sacrifice, I nearly fell off a wooden bridge twice, and then he basically threw himself off a cliff to save me. Needless to say, when he found out it was a test, he was _not_ amused."

The man nodded, "I wouldn't be either, if my girlfriend were put in harms way." I could feel a blush forming, as I corrected him, "H-he… I-I'm not his girlfriend." I wound up stammering slightly, I murmured "…not yet, anyway." the man nodded in understanding.

We both looked at Nathan, who still had a blank- if not slightly mad- look on his face, when the guy asked, "…Hey, I have to leave, forms are over there-" he pointed to a small desk near the stage, "It's nice to have you two, and-" he looked to Nathan, leaned in, and whispered, "Good luck!", I blushed, and the man left.

I sat down at the desk, and began filling out my form, I left Nathan's alone, he didn't like it the last time I forged his signature and entered him into something.

Not sure what his problem was, Bungee-jumping was fun!

_**=Nathan PoV=**_

I rapidly shook out of the stupor, and wondered how much time's passed since I began arguing with Ramuh.

I looked around, and noticed Selphie was writing at a desk.

I walked up to her, and she gestured to a sign-up form.

Garden Festival committee met on weekends… And that was it.

I filled out my info, from name, to cellphone number, to what dorm I slept in.

After that, we put the forms under a stapler so they wouldn't get blown away, idly wondering what time it was…

*grumble* *growl*…when our stomachs answered for us.

Lunch time!

We ran to the Cafeteria…and met the disciplinary committee.

We were getting glared at by a guy who's taller than me with blond hair, a guy who's taller than _him_ with black hair, and a girl with an eyepatch and silver hair.

"Hold it!", blondie looked down at us disapprovingly, "You two were caught sprinting in the Garden, the rules state that anything faster than jogging pace is a detentionable offense outside of a class period…Wait a second…" he leaned down to get a better look at Selphie and I, "Who are you two?" for once, I took the initiative.

I stood at attention, had absolutely no idea what rank he was, so I decided to play it safe, "Transfer students from Trabia Garden, Sir!", blondie stared at me for a second, then tilted his head back and let out a laugh, "Hahaha! Calm down new guy, I'm not your commanding officer, I'm in charge of the disciplinary committee, it's my job. I take it you just got here today?" I nodded, and said, "Yessir.", he nodded, and said, "Hold on a sec." He turned to the other two, and asked, "Cut the new guys some slack and let them off with a warning?", Black-hair-dude said, "Yeah, we should, they probably haven't even gotten their Garden Rulebooks delivered yet. And besides, everyone was new sometime, ya know?" Silver-hair nodded, "AGREED.", Seifer nodded, and said, "Alright… Raijin, hand me two pamphlets, please." the now-named Raijin said, "Uh… I gave them to Fujin, ya know?" The now-named Fujin shook her head, "SEIFER." the now-named Seifer patted his coat, and found something, "Ah, here we go." he handed two pamphlets to us, and said, "Here, we're letting you go, but with a warning, all slack shall be taken away by the end of the week, since that's when your Rulebooks should arrive, this pamphlet lists some of the more constantly broken rules. Have a good day.", he nodded, and a guy with a tattoo came rushing past, nearly bowling us over, "SORRY!" he called out.

Seifer grumbled, "_Another_ speeder." They went running(not sprinting, I noted) after him.

After he left, Selphie and I opened our pamphlets.

The title was "Commonly Broken Rules, Summarized Edition, by Seifer Almasy"

_Rule 1. No beating each other up outside of supervised sparring matches._

_Punishment: Detention to Expulsion_

_Rule 2. Take time to think things through before starting a relationship._

_Punishment: Social awkwardness if it falls out._

_Rule 3. When a teacher/supervisor tells you to do something, DO IT, DAMN IT!_

_Punishment: Detention_

_Rule 4. No sex. (This rule only applies to people below the rank of SeeD, a little motivation, perhaps?)_

_Punishment: Detention to Expulsion_

_Rule 5. No sprinting in the halls. Running? Okay. Jogging? Okay. Sprinting? No-go._

_Punishment: Detention._

It goes on to go into more specifics, towards the end, there was "It's 'There isn't a dress code', not 'There is a no-dress code'!", which I got a kick out of, but before long, our stomachs reminded us of what we were doing.

FOOD!

===Twenty minutes of face-stuffing later===

We retreated to our dormitories, we were given orders to pack sparsely, no need to clutter the dormitories, right?

We separated, guys weren't allowed in the women's dorm, but vice versa was permitted.

It took me ten minutes to find my room, four minutes to unpack(putting clothes on hangers in the closet took the most time, right after arranging my small book collection on the desk), and, for some reason, I felt tired.

Very tired, actually.

Oooohhh… Room's spinni- *Thud!*

~~~_Dream Time~~~_

====Nathan====

The sounds of the battle behind me reached my ears, I _had_ to alert Milady!

Running past a backup squad on it's way to the battle, I burst into Milady's room.

It was beautifully decorated, but at the same time, it felt almost humble.

I ran over, and gently shook Milady awake.

("What the shit?")

====Selphie====

"-ilady! Milady!" I groan and rolled over to see who woke me up from my sleep, as my eyes got focus, I saw it was The Captain of the Guard, Nathan.

("Nathan's captain of the what-now?")

Yawning, I ask, "What is it, Nathan?", "The rebels, they're at the gate!"

My eyes shot open, all traces of tiredness leaving my system.

"I thought you said they would be here in three days! What about Watts?" he sighed, and said, "…Dead. He was found out prior to his update, they supplied us with false information, and then delivered his head on a pike."

====Nathan====

Oooh boy…Milady's pissed.

I looked up as she got out of bed, I'm not sure what exactly she sleeps in, and I'm worried about finding out.

("Know how you feel, Selphie with her nunchucks in a spar on a bad day… the song "Swing Low" comes to mind.")

She ran to the closet and put on her battle attire.

In that yellow dress, and standing 5'1("And a half, do NOT forget the half!"), you'd never suspect she was a Sorceress.

("…Wait… WHAT?")

====Selphie====

Storming through the castle with righteous indignation, I'm gonna dish out some magical judgment, damn it!

("Yeah! No one screws around with my friends!… But who is Watts?")

I swung my staff, the large castle doors were flung open.

The battlefield was covered in corpses and blood and discarded weapons.

My fury was so large that it caused storm clouds to gather.

Wings shot out of my back, ("WOOHOO! SWEET!") as I called on the power of Catastrophe.

Allies vanished as the enemy struggled to get out of range.

It took out half their forces.

Then, I teleported into their midst, and began taking them out, one by one, the number of the fallen drastically increased as I pushed a button on my staff, turning it into a set of nunchaku.

====Nathan====

I grumble as I run towards the battle, unsheathing my dual hookblades, Milady left me behind... _Again_.

Finally getting there, I took out three guys with my mere entrance[I had stabbed two in the neck, and forced their bodies to impale a third guy], and got to work fighting alongside Milady.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they were mostly gone.

On the same token, most of our troops were wounded, Milady teleported them to the infirmary.

Finally, we saw the leader of them all, purple marks adorned her face, she wore a red dress, had black wings, and had long platinum-blond hair.

====Selphie====

I looked at my foe, and frowned, "Ultimecia, I should've known _you_ were at the cause of all of this." she laughed an evil laugh, "Ah, humans shall never cease to amuse me," she gestured to the rebellion troops, and said, "A few lies, a few false rumors, and an army amasses. Surrender now, and I'll tell them to spare your little crush."

I snarled at her, "Never! He would never be able to live with the shame if I gave up my life for his!" she smirked, "Hm, then I guess I'll have to do… This." She raised her arm as Nathan finished slaying the last of the rebellion, and all the weapons in the area levitated… and pointed to Nathan.

("Oh no…")

"Don't. You. Dare." I growled out, she gave an evil grin, and said, "Oh, I dare." her arm flew down, causing them all to hit Nathan simultaneously.

He didn't even have time to scream.

She began gloating, but I didn't hear her, blood was flowing in my head too much for me to.

It all calmed down as I uttered my penultimate spell.

"Spiritual tears, bodily rends.

You are evil, you who hurt my friends.

To Hell, thou shalt be send.

For you, this is **The End!**"

Her body disintegrated in an instant.

I flew to Nathan, who was losing blood rapidly.

"Love aplenty, Feelings true.

I would sacrifice my magic for you.

My love is true, my love is pure.

Heal him, I pray thee, **Full-cure!**"

The weapons all rocketed out and away from him as he body reabsorbed his blood.

I was exhausted, but I was going to guard him until he woke up.

I guarded him even as it began raining.

("Nathan…")

====Nathan====

I groaned as my eyes opened.

I looked above me, where I saw Milady crying.

"Hey… Milady… I don't think I'll make it this time…""Don't say that! You _will_ make it!"

"I… don't think so… I feel so… so cold…"

She snickered, I looked up… Yup, she was laughing.

"Hahaha! Y-you idiot! You're in a puddle of _rain water!_" I blushed, realizing that what I thought were tears was actually water running down her face.

"M-my apologies, Milady, o-one doesn't typically survive m-mass impalement."

She helped me up, and kissed me full on the lips, causing me to blush even brighter.

'_!'_

("!" O.O)

"Call me Selphie, sweetie." she enveloped me in a hug, and then, the world faded to black.

_~~~End Dream~~~_

My eyes shot open as I blushed ridiculously.

"What. The. SHIT?"

'_Something's wrong here… I don't normally remember my dreams after I wake up!… DAMMIT RAMUH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HEAD?'_

===Selphie's PoV===

I shook my head, trying to get all the sleep-fog out of it.

Wow.

Just… Wow.

That, was an AWESOME dream!

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, making incantations for Selphie's Limit Break spells, and also, the one for Full-cure? Yeah, that's dream-specific… for now.<strong>

**The dream sequences are based in both my, and Selphie's heads, her subconscious comes up with the basic plot, and mine comes up with the elements, Selphie has no frickin' idea who the heck Ultimecia and Watts are, this will cause her confusion later, for now, she'll shrug it off, thinking it was just some random dream-thing.  
><strong>

**What's causing the shared dreams? **

**Relax, dear readers, all will be explained in due time.**

**Read and Review, please!**

**Also, if I screw up any plot details, misspell a character name, or even if there's a point that I can improve on, let me know.**

**Also… I'm gonna need a better incantation for The End, "To Hell, thou shalt be send" is grammatically incorrect, and it will drive me insane for the next few weeks if I don't get it fixed.**

*** This is playing off of an assumption I made, Trabia creates magic-orientated mercenaries, Galbadia creates technology**-orientated**/long-distance-orientated mercenaries, Balamb creates balanced/close-quarters-orientated mercenaries.**

**Proof:  
>Squall, Seifer, Zell, Quistis are from Balamb, Three are close-range fighters(Two swordsmen, one fist fighter), and one's a Blue Mage(Who's main weapon is a whip, a close-quarters weapon).<br>Selphie comes from Trabia, she has a blunt weapon(Nunchaku don't have edges, why? See White Mage's argument against Swordchucks.) and can bring out uber-magic in dire straits.  
>Irvine(and Rinoa, if you want to be technical about it) comes from Galbadia, he fires from a distance.(Ditto Rinoa)<strong>

**Regardless, you have elementals/monsters/demigods/godlings that talk to you while/before you fight them, but immediately shut up after you win.  
>My guess as to why? The main characters(besides possibly Selphie, who doesn't know that they can't talk to their GFs) can't hear them talk.<strong>

**Also, Woohoo! Two favorites and a story alert in three days!**

**[12/03/11 Edit: Line fix, and a minor punctuation fix.]**


	3. Chapter Two, New Allies

_**Music Notes:**_

_**Here's the background music for the areas so far:**_

_**Trabia(Flashback): Yuna's Ballad(Final Fantasy X-2)**_

_**Balamb/Garden: Truce Village(Chrono Trigger)**_

_**Balamb(Overworld): Besaid(Final Fantasy X)**_

_**?(Overworld): Wild West/The Veldt(Final Fantasy VI)**_

_**?(Overworld): Dark World(Final Fantasy VI)**_

_**?(Overworld): Terra(Final Fantasy VI)**_

_**Here's the rest of the music:**_

_**Guardian Force Battle: YuRiPa Battle Theme(Final Fantasy X-2)**_

_**Standard Battle: Final Fantasy X Battle Theme**_

_**Hysteria Theme: Man with the Machine Gun(Final Fantasy VIII)**_

_**[Note: Boss music overrides this]**_

_**Boss Theme: I'll Face Myself[Battle] (Persona 4)**_

* * *

><p>Two weeks later…<p>

"We're late. We're late. WE'RE LATE!"

…We were still getting lost.

We were sprinting towards homeroom, Selphie leading the way, the years of her playing messenger granting her a minor speed advantage over me, plus, I was delayed by a guy giving me cards.

We were both surprised by the student coming around the corner.

*Oof!* "Waah!" Selphie flailed her arms trying to regain balance, but failed as I tripped over the back of her foot- "Shi-!"- landing face first in the carpet.

The student stared at us in shock, Selphie got up quickly, saying, "There… Sorry. I was kinda in a hurry…Nathan? You alright?"

"Fa capah fafes fyf finavon"

"…What?"

I tilt my head up slightly, and repeat myself, "The carpet tastes like cinnamon."

Selphie sighed, "You're okay, get up."

I did, my face was sore, but still, I got up.

The guy had a painful-looking scar. Looked fresh, too.

Was about to ask him about it when Selphie asked, "Oh yeah! Hey, did you just come from that class?" he nodded, "…Is… homeroom over?" he nodded again, "Gah!" I buried my face in my hands, and Selphie was noticeably upset, "Woo… Oh, nooo…", I grumbled, "This place is like, three times as big as Trabia! And has freaking _eight_ times the amount of rooms and hallways!" I looked at the student, "Hey… If it's not too much of a bother… would you be so kind as to show us around?" the man shrugged, and said, "Sure, why not.", This cheered Selphie up, "Whoo-hoo! Alright, let's go!"

The man nodded, and said, "We'll take the elevator to the first floor lobby, and I'll show you how to use the directories."

And so, we followed him, I waved to the guy who gave me cards, and we went down to the first floor.

Selphie asked the man who was showing us around, "Hey, do _you_ know what's in between the floors?"He shrugged, "I know there's not much between the first and second floors, you could probably tell that, but I don't know what's between the Basement floor and the first floor, and the second floor and the third floor."The doors opened, and he showed us to the strange map-thing in the lobby.

"This is the first-floor directory."It was a helluva lot more complicated than what I recalled of the game's.

It looked more like a Google Maps image of Balamb Garden than a pointed to a rectangular area towards the bottom, "We are here, in the Lobby. Say you wanted to get to Club Room Four-B, you tap the button on here that says 'Ex-A" and trace your finger from where you are, to your desired location." he tapped the button on the computer that said Ex-A, and several dozen "Club Room"s popped up, he dragged his finger across the screen to Club Room 4-B, when he removed his finger from the screen, a bright yellow line appeared on the screen, starting in the Lobby area, working it's way past the Infirmary, through the Quad, and finally made it to Club Room 4-B.

"That's basically it, the other buttons, RR, MB, and TB all stand for Restroom, Mailbox, and Telephone Booth, pressing the TB and MB buttons lets you see where the telephone booths(for those of you without phones) and mailboxes are, the Restroom button lets you see the three nearest bathrooms. Any questions?" We shook our heads, it was outrageously simple, "Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have a GF to get." I waved good-bye to the man as he ran(not sprint) for the exit, Selphie ran off to the Quad, and I was approached by a man, "So… My associates at Trabia say that you were their top player, up until you had to transfer here, is that correct?" I blush a little and nod, never let it be said modesty was my weak point.

He held out his hand, and I shook it.

"Card Club Jack, at your service." he introduced himself, he looked around, and said, "You have caught my interests, just like everyone else in the Card Club, in due time, we will show ourselves to you, one by one, your prize for beating us is a rare card which you may use whenever, and however you wish. Hell, feel free to modify them, if you want. They're special cards, they'll return to one of us in the event you do."

He looked around, and said, "Meet me here after you make SeeD-" he handed me ten Blitz, Abyss Worm, and Snow Lion cards, as well as thirty Hexadragon cards. "Sources tell me you have a lightning-aligned GF, they know Card Mod, Blitz Cards refine to Thundaga, Abyss Worms into Tornado, Snow Lions into Blizzaga, Hexadragons into Firaga, the mountains to the north have an Ice-aligned GF, Shiva, the caves to the south have a Fire-aligned GF, Ifrit. get your girlfriend, and go get them." He peered over his shoulder, and turned back to me, "Ask the Garden Faculty if you can borrow a car for a day, the exams start tomorrow, good luck, Godspeed, and remember," he put a finger to his lips, "Sshhh!" I nodded, and he ran off.

"_Ramuh, care to explain why you never told me you could change my scores and scores of cards into items I could kick colossal ass with?"_

"_**Let's see… Jackass, jackass, jackass, jackass, jackass, jackass, jackass…"**_

_"…Fine, if I give you my word that I'll cut back on the jackass stuff, you'll start doing your refining magic?"_

_**"Don't call me jackass for two days, and then cut it back, and you have a deal."**_

_"…Fine. I promise."_

Instantly, the cards vanished into light, which went into my Magic Backpack(Dimensionally expanded, like my wallet, but since these are HUGE on the inside, they are expensive as all hell. I won it as a first place prize in the Continental Triple Triad tournament), I looked in it, there were a few windmill blades(Windmill), some stones that sparked(Dynamo Stone), a few fangs(Red Fang), and a few chunks of Everfrost(North Wind).

I tilted my head back, and let loose an evil cackle.

Good Lord above, I love Triple Triad.

Hey, maybe I can finally get rid of those thousand-something Geezard cards I have!

=====Fact Statement=====

**Alright, before you people say anything about me being overpowered, he's been playing TT for the past four years, Trabia has a metric shipload of players, and they keep challenging him.**

**You can typically get what I just got within a couple hours of play, if- pardon the expression- you play your cards right.**

**He has anywhere between thirty and fifty of all the Boss Cards(besides Fuujin, Raijin, and Biggs, Wedge.), between a hundred and two hundred Level 4 and 5's(sans Pupu), over five hundred of each Level 1(Common. As. Shit. No, really, it's impossible to open a card pack and NOT find like, three of them, minimum. ESPECIALLY GEEZARDS!), and Ramuh(Top: A, Right: 4, Left: 8, Bottom: 7).**

**======Statement End====**

I ran to the Quad…

What.

Selphie wasn't there.

I cursed that today was the ONE DAY in my life on this planet, a THRICE DAMNED CELL PHONE would be USEFUL!

I stopped as I almost exited the Quad.

…Selphie has a cellphone.

I smacked my forehead, _'D'oh! Telephone booths!'_

I jogged back to the directory, and tapped the TB button(Wow, already coming in handy!), and tracked down a booth.

I dialed her number (1-555-266-9252)**[Not an actual phone number.]**, and after a while, she picked up.

"Hello, Selphie Tilmitt speaking."

"Hey my Sorceress! Where are you?"

"Women's dorms. Why?" Well, that explains why I couldn't find her.

"Because, I found out about two GF's in the area, would you mind coming with me to get 'em?"

"Sure! Gimme a minute to track down my nunchaku, and I'll be there in a sec."

"Meet me in the garage, if memory serves, it's to your left after you leave the dorms."

"Alright!"

"Ciao!"

"See ya!"

***Beep!***

* * *

><p>Signing and notarizing paperwork for "Use of a Garden vehicle", the man handed me the keys with the knowledge that the "You break it, you buy it" rule applies.<p>

We left, and I started driving to the mountains to the north.

About ten to fifteen miles north of the Garden(Got there quickly, Garden vehicles can drive offroad easily, cap out at one-twenty, and I am a bored teenage male with ADHD. VRRRRRRRRR…) was a cave.

It. Was. Beautiful.

It was coated in ice, the sun reflected off of it in the beginning, causing the whole thing to light up, it was lovely.

_Location: Ice Cavern_

**[Music: Cave(Final Fantasy X-2)]**

We gradually made our trek through the place, encountering Glacial Eye after Glacial Eye, periodically coming across a Flan(Which Selphie would promptly blast with a Fire).

After a bit though, we had to stop.

We were dog tired, and…and…

I smacked my forehead.

I forgot to get the junction magic.

"_Oy, Ramuh, mind converting those windmill blades into Tornados for Selphie and I?"_

_**"On it."**_

"Hey, Sylph," Selphie looked up in response to one of her several nicknames, "A hundred Tornados, coming up!"The windmill blades vanished from my backpack, and turned into balls of light, hovering in front of me. Selphie whipped out her nunchaku, and as it hit the ball of light, traveled through her nunchaku, and into her.

She, apparently, equipped it to Clarity, because she seemed a lot calmer afterwards.

…Then she whipped out her nunchaku, and hit me upside the head, sending me tumbling and sliding on the icy floor.

"You goofball! Those would've been more useful _at the beginning of the cave!_" "I was too mesmerized by the frakking cave! It's pretty, shiny, and I have ADHD! Cut me some slack!" "What happened to 'ADHD isn't a valid excuse'?" "That only applies to homework!" Whilst we bickered, Ramuh changed my remaining Windmill blades into Tornados, which I equipped to Strength.

After I lost to Selphie's ace-in-the-hole(Damn puppy-dog eyes!), we continued down the cave.

Selphie's Fires acted more like Firas now, and that was. Just. AWESOME.

I managed to slash through three Glacial Eyes in a row before they noticed me, and it was AWESOME.

Even awesome was that, after they died, I carded them, and their corpses fused together and netted me a Jumbo Cactuar card!

NEAT!

After a while, we located the heart of the cave.

It. Was. Gorgeous.

Light was shining in from a hole in the ceiling, reflected off of a large chunk of ice in the center, acting like a prism, the room was full of multi-colored light.

Made me wish I had a camera.

'_Note to self: GET A CAMERA…No, better yet, get a Camera phone!'_

"_**So, have you come to challenge me?"**_ A voice called out, it echoed around the room, but it's source was blatantly the large chunk of ice in the middle of the room.

"Yes, we have." I said, stepping forward, getting into an battle stance in front of Selphie, who, in turn, did the same.

"_**So be it."**_ a blue, ten-foot tall humanoid stepped out of the ice(I can't really describe her, but she resembles FFX's version of Shiva), she leaped towards us, **"We fight!"**

She threw Blizzards at us…

Only for them to have no effect.

Well, on me, at least, I still had the Blizzaga junctioned to Elemental Defense, it actually felt _good _to me.

For Selphie… Not so much.

She was regretting wearing that dress already.

I slashed at Shiva with all my might, Selphie firing…well… Fire, at her.

"Nathan!" she called out as she fired off her last Fire, "I'm summoning Tonton[Tonberry]!"

"Alright!" She focused, and then vanished in a flash of light, Tonton the Tonberry appearing in her place.

I jumped back as Tonton threw the knife, it traveling through Shiva several times, each time making a "DOINK!" noise.

No wounds were visible on her, but that's just how GF's fought.

There are a wide variety of GF's, you had elemental beings, like Quetzalcoatl, Shiva, Ramuh, and Ifrit, you had Tamed monsters, like Tonton, you had Spirits, who are the ghosts of people who were once so dedicated to a cause that, even after death, they continued to serve it(On the opposite side of the token is The Trapped, people who's spirits were bound forcibly by dark magicks, freeing them earned you their thanks, brownie points with the universe, and on the rare occasion, their loyalty.), they were powerful, after that were Mythos, GF's created by belief, they too, were powerful… but…

The most powerful ones… were godlings, there are very few of those, but if you managed to get one on your side, they would greatly boost your abilities, but if you weren't careful… you could die.

In our case, we were dealing with an Eidolon-class Elemental, Eidolon-class Elementals seldom leave their home area, prove your worth to them, and they grant you a fragment of their powers.

And in the time I explained this, the battle ended in a glorious manner that the author was too lazy to write.

Shiva crossed her arms in approval at the tired warriors in front of her.

"**You have proven yourself worthy, I shall let you summon me."**

She reached back, and rapped on the ice with her index finger's knuckle, causing two chunks of ice to fall, she caught them with practiced ease, she held them in her hands, and breathed on them, causing them to glow, she then walked back, and handed them to us, where they entered our bodies.

We both stumbled a little, _'Weird.'_

"_**Yes! There's someone else in here!"**_ I could hear Ramuh say in my head.

_**"…Wow, this place is really roomy!" **_

…

…

…

There was only one way for me to respond to that.

_"Bite me!"_

* * *

><p>We went to a restaurant(Diner, fast-food chain, gas station, bar, whatever. Show me a town in America that doesn't have a non-home area that sells food and drinks, and I'll be shocked…. Oh, Amish villages don't count.), and discussed our next course of action over hamburgers.<p>

We were going to get the next GF, a simple question later, and we knew we were up against Ifrit, a Fire Elemental.

I modded four of the Snow Lion cards into eighty Blizzaga for Selphie, She equipped them to her Strike Element, when a voice chipped in in both our heads.

"_**You know, you both could just summon me a couple times, Ifrit always fell down when I did my thing…"**_

_"…Please tell me you were talking about hitting him with magic."_

_**"Of course I was, what did **__**you**__** think I was talking about?"**_

"_You're in my brain, check."_

"_**Fine!…"**_

"…"

"…_**PERVERT!"**_

"OW! Brain freeze!"

Selphie stared at me, "She said 'Ifrit always fell down when I did my thing' to you too, didn't she?" "YES! DAMN HORMONES!"

===One GF lecture by Selphie later===

After temporarily transferring my copy of Shiva to Selphie, she returned with Tonton.

"_**Now then, **__**what**__** do we say?" **_the intimidating voice of Tonton said.

"…_**Sorry." **_

_**"That's better, now, don't make me come back here, I **_**like**_** Selphie's head, it's comfy in there, lots of flowers. As opposed to this… empty castle."**_

I felt Tonton leave me, and return to Selphie

"_-der what the inside of his head looks like."_

_"It looks like a castle, apparently, Shiva, didn't Tonton just get through saying that?"_

_"N-Nathan?"_ across the table, Selphie's eyes widened, an action I mimicked, _"Holy shit! Selphie?" _

_"What's going o-…Wait a second."_ "Can we please talk normally? The telepathy-thing is weird."I blinked. "Alright."

"…Any ideas as to what just happened?"

"I dunno, maybe we're latent telepaths, and swapping GFs caused it to kick in? Maybe it has something to do with your cerebramancy? After all, don't most cerebramancers avoid using GFs?…Something to do with the theory out about GF-related memory loss?"

She shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. Right now, we have a slightly more pressing matter than confusing super powers. What about Ifrit?"

"Err…" I scratched the back of my head, "Go in, Tornado attached to Clarity, and spam Shiva and Blizzagas like there's no tomorrow?"

"…Eh, that should work… What if we get hurt?" I brightened slightly, "Ramuh recently told me he can alchemically create Mega-Potions out of Mesmerize Horns, which Mesmerize cards refine into, which I happen to have four-hundred sixty-something of."

She sighs, shaking her head, "That Triple Triad addiction comes in handy sometimes, doesn't it?" "Oh, hell yeah."

_Location: Fire Cavern_

**[Music: Cave(Final Fantasy X-2)]**

I'll tell you, Magic Spamming. Is. FUN.

Bomb? "BLIZZAGA!" it fell, and shattered on impact with the floor.

Buel? "BLIZZAGA!", it fell into the lava.

Swarm of Red Bats?

…Wait, what? "HOLY SHIT! RAMUH!"

ZAP!

They all died.

Selphie was irritated that I kept carding them, but stopped complaining when I said, "What, it's not like we're gonna _eat_ them, that'd be disgusting!"

Apparently, the thought of eating a bat disgusted her enough to drop it.

After a while, we finally reached the lava pool that contained Ifrit.

"**Are you ready?"** a voice called from the lava pool.

I looked to Selphie, she and I nodded.

"We are ready." I stated.

Ifrit burst from the lava pool, and the fight began.

He leapt up, and tried pounding me into the ground, but I managed to get away in time.

He threw fireballs at us, I dodged, but they hit Selphie, causing sunburn-grade damage.

I growled at him, "Don't hurt Selphie!" and I charged, hitting him once, twice, thrice, four times, before he knocked me away.

"Selphie!" I called out, turning to her, "Combo spell!" She nodded, "Right!"_ "Shiva, give us strength!"_

"Combination! Tornado!" Selphie called out, throwing a Tornado at Ifrit, and at the same time, I called out, "Combination! Blizzaga!" The huge chunk of ice hit the tornado, "Combination Spell!" We called out at the same time, "DIAMOND DUST!"

I smirked when I saw the spells hit, the Blizzaga exploded into ice dust and ice shards that got sucked up and around by the Tornado spell, which HAD to be effective against the fire elemental.

And when the spell ended, Ifrit was standing straight, arms crossed, and nodded, **"You have proven yourselves worthy,"** he reached into the lava pit, and pulled out two molten rocks, he breathed on them, causing them to cool down into two steaming rocks, **"You are permitted to summon me."** he threw the rocks at us(causing us to, naturally, flinch), they made contact with our heads, and entered our bodies, Ifrit laughed at us, and then jumped back into the lava pool.

Simultaneously, in both our heads, we heard a loud WHAM! Followed by, _**"DON'T DO THAT!"**_

I grinned, _'Ifrit got his butt kicked!'_

"_Hahaha! Ifrit just got kicked by Shiva!"_

_"You too? BWAHAHA! That's awesome!"_

"…_Hey, should we tell someone about this?"_

"…_After the exam, I don't want to wait ANOTHER year for this chance, just because some white coats want to pick at our brains."_

"_Alright, sounds fair."_

With that we left, but as we were getting into the car…

"_**HOLY SHIT!"**_

I clutched my head, "OW!"

Selphie looked at me, "Something wrong?"

Wincing, I said, "Yeah, Ifrit suddenly got the bright idea to yell."_"What was that for, anyway?"_

"_**Those dragon teeth you have in your backpack…" **_

_"Yeah?" _

_**"…They contain the power of Flare."**_

"HOLY SHIT!" I shouted, spooking Selphie, who got to drive back to Garden(I was getting an aspirin, putting on a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and two separate seatbelts), "What now?" She said, slamming on the accelerator, "I can get FLARE!" Her eyes widened, "HOLY SHIT!" "I KNOW!" She jerked around, and said, "How?" "Refining some of those fangs, I gue- TREE!" She jerked back around, and sharply turned the wheel to the left, narrowly avoiding the tree.

_**(A/N: This was really my reaction to finding out you can get Flare before the Dollet mission, and if you card a lot, it becomes easy if you're patient after Timber.)**_

As it turned out, you _could_ get some through refining them.

So, Selphie pulled over, and I refined five of the fangs for her, and five of the fangs for me, making a hundred Flares apiece.

While I was thinking about it, I refined a hundred Thundagas, Firagas, and refilled our Blizzagas and Tornados

Then, we got back to the Garden, handed the keys back to the faculty member, and went to the cafeteria.

Something was being served that caused my eyes to widen, and my mouth to water.

"Baaaaaacooooon…" I mumbled out like a zombie, Selphie just pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

==Thirty minutes of super bacon nommage==

I yawned and looked at my watch, 8:30 PM, "Hey Sylph," she looked up from her book(no idea where she got it), and said, "Yeah?", "We should get to sleep, squad assignment's at four AM tomorrow.", she nodded, "Yeah, alright."

We walked to our dorms, got showers, brushed our teeth, and then went to bed(all actions at a similar time, but in separate dorms.), we, thankfully, got to sleep quickly after setting our alarms.

Unfortunately, we also had a strange dream again.

_~~~Dream Time~~~_

===Nathan===

I winced as Nix(Well, that's the name she goes by, her real name is Selphie) punched the prisoner("Hey, is that the guy who showed us around?") in the stomach.

"TALK!" she shouted to his face, he growled, and said, "No way in _hell_, bitch!"

"THAT'S IT!" she said, she walked over to me, and said, "Nathan? Would you be a dear and do that little trick of yours to him?" I winced, "D-do I have to? I-I always f-feel dirty after doing it…" she crossed her arms and pouted, "Darn. Well, I guess I can't do that _thing_ that you like…" I was in front of the prisoner in a second, hand in front of his face, "Alright punk…"

===Selphie===

"…start talking, or I start rippin' out your soul!" Nathan said, hand wide open, less than an inch away from the prisoner's face, I grin, _'I love it when he gets all evil for me.'_

("…What the SHIT… is GOING ON HERE?")

The prisoner scoffed, "Yeah right, you're the Electric Man, the Angel of Empire City, I doubt you'd even thi-gahg!" Sparks trailed from the man's face, into Nathan, after a second, he stopped, Nathan glaring, and the man panting, a look of shock on his face, "Well? You gonna talk _now?_" "Ne-*pant*, Never!"

Lightning arced from Nathan's fist as he punched the man, just over the heart, he went down gasping for air, only to go rigid when lightning raced from Nathan's hands and into him.

Nathan grabbed him by his collar, and said, "I know many things man, I know how the brain works, I know how the body works, I know how electricity works, I know how to make you stab yourself, I can cripple you for _life_ if I want, I can revive you from the brink of death," red lightning arced from around his eyes, "I can _eat your goddamn soul_, now that you know all of this, I will ask you one last time," He got in his face, "Will you tell us what we want to know? Or do I have to rip it from your brain?"

'_Good God Almighty, I love that man.'_

The man had a couple tears streaking down his face, "I…I'll talk…"

("Geez… What's up with Nathan?…Hmm… I wonder…")

===Nathan===

I smirked, "Good. Now START TALKING!" I threw him back into the chair, not hearing the chains of his handcuffs snap, and started walking away.

"For one thing, DIE BASTARD!" I jerked around, the prisoner was up, and had drawn a gun, but he wasn't pointing at me, he was pointing at…

===Selphie===

*Bang!*

I gasp and look down.

There was a hole in my chest, upper left part.

It was blee-

That's as far as her thoughts got before darkness enveloped her.

===Nathan===

I looked to Selphie, "SELPHIE!", she had a bullet hole in her heart, I turned to the man who shot her, and fired a bolt, not an arc, but a _bolt_ of lightning at him, causing his gun to explode, I ran to her side… the bullet went through, which was a good/bad thing.

Good because that meant I didn't have to risk electrocuting her to get the bullet out of her heart.

Bad, because that means gravity's working against me here.

"DAMMIT!" I proceeded to try extending my electrical field to cover her, mixing her healing abilities with mine.

She was still losing blood rapidly, I pinch the bridge of my nose as tears start falling, I opened my eyes, I knew what I could do…

I charged every scrap of electricity I could into my hands, and slammed them on her chest.

I could feel the flesh reknitting, skin regrowing under my hands, but at the same time, the world began losing color, the world was very dark when she gasped.

===Selphie===

I gasped as life entered my veins again.

I also felt a heavy weight fall on my chest, "Nathan?" he looked…No… It couldn't be…

I crawled out from under him.

He felt… cold.

("NATHAN!")

Tears began falling as my mind raced.

If _he_ could revive a stopped heart, why couldn't _she?_

Fire was many things, throughout life, Fire was a symbol of war, of death… but of love, and of life, too.

I've lived up to the first two…

Time to live up to the last two.

I grabbed his shoulders, and willed warmth, life, _love_, to go back into him, "Work!" nothing.

"W-work, dammit!" I increased the amount, still nothing, finally, I collapsed on him, "Wh-why wo-won't y-you work?"

I felt something… New… Energetic, fill me.

I grasped this new power, and gasped as lightning raced out from my fingertips.

He was warm, but his heart was stopped.

I willed the energy to go to my fist, and slammed down, hard, on his heart, "LIVE, DAMN IT!" his body convulsed as electricity surged over him, when it all entered his system, he seemed more… alive.

I put my ear to his chest… Th-thump….Th-thump….Th-thump.I sighed, and hugged him as tears started to fall, allowing some energy to flow back into him, "I love you, you idiot."

Then, it all faded to black.

~~~_End Dream~~~_

===Nathan===

I jerked out of bed, heart beating rapidly, apparently, dream-me nearly died for Selphie.

…Again.

…Seriously! Is my subconscious trying to tell me I'm suicidal or something?

I looked at the clock, 4:30, I needed to get up, anyway.

For the rest of the morning, I'd be wondering why I'd have an inFAMOUS influenced dream…When I haven't even played a video game in five years.

* * *

><p><strong>Kudos to the person who guesses why.<strong>

**A few things to note:**

**1. Yeah, it is, indeed, possible to get a full stock of Flares before leaving for the Dollet mission, how? Refining 50 Ruby Dragon cards into 5 Inferno Fangs, and then those into 100 Flare through F-Mag-Ref.**

**It gets easier after Timber because, in the forest between Timber and Galbadia Garden(the one where the second Laguna Dream takes place), there are Grendels, who rarely card into Tiamat, which refines into 10 Flare Stones.**

**Now, how is this easier? Well, it all depends on your perspective, either you card with lightning-breathing psuedo-dragons(Nullified by 100 Thundaga on Elem-Def-J, which you can have on, like, four GFs at that point, and 100 Meltdown on Vit-J), a process that eventually(at 100 Grendel Cards) makes it inevitable for one to turn into Tiamat(after several carding attempts), or playing some 500+ games of Triple Triad, so Your Mileage May Vary.**

**(On a similar note, you can have a stock of 100 Holy just after you get Siren, if you have 10 Krysta cards[Rare Buel and Bomb card] per character you want a full stock on.)**

**2. You can actually… kinda… sorta… follow my progress, using a Save Game Editor, many, many, many times.**

**You can't(to my knowledge) copy the Trabia sequence, but you can copy the rest(besides original bits).**

**How? A very, very, very long list of things that would make people accuse me of word-padding.**

**3. Why is it I got 53 Inferno Fangs from a single Ruby Dragon?**

**They had plenty of time to get them out, as opposed to in-game, where they have to get it and get out before they get attacked by a Malboro or a Ruby Dragon or something.**

**4. I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever played inFAMOUS, Although, I really, really, really, really want to.**

**I've played demos of the second game, trying to get the first one, and so far, it's awesome.**

**Forgive me for any incorrectness in the dream sequence, I was simply playing off of what I know of Nix.**

**Originally, Selphie was going to be Kuo, but then I saw the word "hyperactive" under Nix's personality, and it changed quickly.**

**On the plus side, I just got great motivation for finishing this, my writers muse popped out a potential sequel.**

**In other news, I need help writing battle sequences, and being overall more descriptive.**

**Any help whatsoever that can be given in either of these subjects with be greatly appreciated.**

**Read and Review, please!**

**[PS: Can someone PLEASE tell me how to get the site to accept an exclamation mark right after a question mark? Or at least explain why the site won't accept it? It's REALLY aggravating.]  
><strong>


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